Brown Cotton launches anti-drug theatre series

This Brown Cotton project, with its “anti-drug use” theme, is supported by the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the National Drug Abuse Prevention Programme (NADAPP).

Through its affiliation with the Diego Martin network of civil societies, Brown Cotton received UNDP support for the training aspect of the project.

The actors and participants have been rehearsing for three months, doing voice and movement classes under the guidance of established professionals.

NADAPP’s mandate to publicly disseminate information on the effects of drugs led the organisation to team with Brown Cotton for this novel street theatre approach.

NADAPP is helping with implementation and sundry needs as the project tours venues across Trinidad, including Trincity Mall on August 12, from 2 pm and Brian Lara Promenade, Port-of-Spain on August 19 from 11 am.

Brown Cotton’s producer and artistic director Louris Lee-Sing said that street theatre is by its very nature the most accessible form of theatre for the general public.

“I’m really proud to be putting on Brown Cotton’s first street theatre show,” she said.

“It’s part of the company’s ongoing goal of recruiting and training fresh, new talent and providing a real forum for dramatic development.”

The play, The Day I Lose My Name, is written by Lee-Sing and the cast, in keeping with the company’s central tenet of inclusivity. It follows the story of “Sprang” who has been a drug addict for over 20 years.

He has been a spranger for so long, Sprang is the only name he’s called. Now he tells his story.

He has lost his name. In a society that finds drug addiction difficult to forgive, the piece asks, “Can Sprang find himself and his true name?”

“The show was inspired by the beating of a drug addict,” Lee-Sing said, explaining that right outside the Brown Cotton Theatre on Princess Building Grounds she witnessed the attack and beating of a homeless, drug addict by a gang of youths with guard dogs.

She also met and interviewed drug addicts who frequented the area.

Two original pieces of music have been developed for the show and are performed by the cast of newcomers — “Sprangers,” a calypso written by Wayne Lee-Sing — and the “power ballad” “The Day I Lost My Name” by Louris. Both are produced by Roger Israel.